Christmas Decorations?

I was riding through Sayville the other day looking for something to sketch when I saw a woman decorating a tree in a garden area of a marina. It seems a little early for Christmas decorating but I thought it might make a good sketch. She had put on ribbon and some star garland. A car pulled up and a man got out and brought her more boxes. I couldn't see what he brought but she put whatever it was in front of the tree. He drove away and came back with a little boy. They took photos of the boy by the tree. I had finished the sketch but stayed where I was reading something I had in the car with me. I wasn't really paying attention, and when I looked up again the man, the woman, the boy, and all the decorations were gone! The only thing I can think of is that they had decorated the tree and posed the boy for their Christmas card photo. The weren't actually decorating the tree for the town...just for the Christmas photo. lol

Saturday - Part III

I decided to move off the risers and continue sketching from a point below. I had the option of sitting on my chair or a bench. I chose my chair thinking it would be warmer than a cold, metal bench. This time I faced the risers. Here is my sketch from there. I did eliminate about 3/4 of the people that were there, trying to find some good poses. You do see just about everything there.

One of the other sketchers took a photo of me and my friend, Pat while we were sketching. She was sketching on her iPad.

By this time, even with two pairs of fingerless gloves on, my fingers were getting too cold. I did have hand warmers with me, but was too lazy to pull them out. Then the cold started moving to the core of my body, so when the sketch was done Pat and I headed indoors. The plan was to meet inside the Marriott Marquis for drinks and a "show and tell." I had a few minutes to warm up before someone came along and said we were doing a group photo outside, so I headed out again. Here is the group...or what remained of the group and was willing to still be outside by about 4 pm.

Of course when we get together for our "show and tell" we have some time to talk and sketch each other before any sharing gets done. I sketched my friends across the table from me.

We were sitting at tables with a view of Times Square outside the floor to ceiling windows. I think in total we had about 35 people participate at some time during the day, although some didn't stay the entire time. For a freezing cold day I think that was a great turnout. I think 26 of us made it back to the Marriott Marquis for the "show and tell."

I hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of my Saturday!

Saturday - Part II

Saturday was a special day for the Urban Sketchers...their 10th anniversary. To celebrate in style they scheduled a USk WorldWide Sketchcrawl. At least 110 Urban Sketcher Regional Chapters from all over the world participated and the work was live streamed on Instagram from different select cities starting in Australia and moving across the world. NYC was participating and we met in Times Square to sketch. Unfortunately for us Saturday was the coldest day we've had since the winter. It was below freezing in the morning and the temperature rose to a balmy high of about 43 degrees.

I did go prepared. When I came home at the end of the day I felt like one of those Russian dolls with one layer under another layer...you get the point. I had 2 thermal layers under my jeans, special heavy "heat holder" socks, 2 thermal tops, a turtleneck and a heavy sweater under my winter coat. Add a scarf, hat, and 2 pairs of fingerless gloves. For the most part I was warm for the first few hours, but when the sunlight went behind the skyscrapers I started to get cold.

Times Square has these risers that people usually stand or sit on. I was sitting on my folding chair so my rear end wouldn't be on the cold risers, but I had a lot of trouble balancing everything in my lap with my bulky coat, so I ended up sitting on the riser for a while. Here are a few short videos and you can see me sketching in the first one. lol

Here are Katie and Leslie sketching.

(Right to left) Sonia, Paula, Suzala and Leslie.

Here is the sketch I was doing of the view ahead of me.

I also did a sketch of some of the people sitting on the risers, including Leslie who was in the video above.

When I moved down from the risers I was sidetracked by the sailors celebrating Veteran's Day in Times Square. I did a quick sketch of one of them.

More tomorrow.

Saturday - Part I

I sketched this on the Long Island Railroad going into Manhattan this morning from Ronkonkoma. The models are usually there for the entire trip of over an hour.

Today was a big urban sketching day...more to come tomorrow.

Stuffies

I missed the meeting of my sketch group on Wed night because I was staying over at my sister's house in NJ. The group had done "stuffies" for their theme and everyone brought in stuffed animals to share. When I woke up Thurs morning I saw their sketches on Facebook and was jealous that I missed it. I was up early and my sister was still asleep so I went downstairs and hunted for her basket of stuffed animals and Beanie-babies that I know she has. I snatched Kiss-Kiss, Zero, and Chocolate to sketch. I guess you can guess who is who. lol

Blazing Trees

With the lack of color in most of our trees this autumn, I get very excited when I see a pop of color. I was heading home the other day when it was overcast and damp. I was passing through Patchogue when I noticed these colorful trees in a line by the Patchogue Train Station. In order to get a good view I parked at an angle across a few parking spaces so I was facing in the correct direction. People who park in the lot had already parked and headed off hours ago, so I knew there wouldn't be anyone who would come to park in those spaces. I was happy with the results.

People Sketches

On Saturday after we sketched on Bond Street the NYC Urban Sketchers went to a restaurant for our usual "show and tell." Once we are seated the sketchbooks immediately come out and we sketch until it is time to share. It is easiest to sketch the people sitting on the opposite side of the table.

Here are Denise and Julie.

And here are Tim and Meredith.